this is a monster post on blushes for all you fellow blushaholics out there ;) prepare for 80 (!!!) photos of blushy goodness and take your time.
in a haul post of centuries ago i showcased these two Beauty Is Life Blush Palettes and sparked your interest in them, but since i've become such a bad blogger, i procrastinated and never came 'round to finish making photos of/with them to show you. now to make up for it, BAM! all 20 packed in a huge overview post. hope you'll forgive me and take me back :) here, i also made some bribery cookies for you...
if you haven't heard of this brand before, i'll quote a crisp self-description from their website:
"THE COMPANY
BEAUTY IS LIFE has been established in 1978 by Beatrix Isabel Lied and is market leader in image consultation ever since.
BEAUTY IS LIFE bundles unique know-how and an unequaled product portfolio for make-up art and image & color consultation in its four business units:
- innovative, extensive make up line
- equipment for color & image consultants
- make up artist - International Academy
- workshop
BEAUTY IS LIFE is based in a former factory in the district Eilbek in Hamburg"
i knew about the line since forever and a year, but because the consumer products are quite expensive and the marketing not very present, i never dove into them. not until about 5 or 6 months ago, when i read an article by one of my make up goddesses (find most of them on my sidebar) about a BIL blush and she said something in the line of "best texture ever" that clicked in my brain and carved a big ol' lemming into my gyruses. darn! can't seem to find that post again...
immediately i checked out where and what to get. where: in germany, in store - don't ask me where - but definitely also at their own online shop (about 5€ for shipping, orders of 80€+ are delivered for free within germany, they also ship worldwide for a varying fee). in the US, BIL is available at Barneys New York.
what: for me, definitely the blushes. and since i'm quite into matte neutrals these days, also lots of the eyeshadows are appealing.
definitely check the pro palettes if you want to buy multiples. the packaging is rubbish (looks is like cheap children's watercolour palettes, hard to open (nail killers!), the insert is quite cheaply made. anyhow, kudos for them to nicely align the embossing of the blush pans rather than sticking the pans irregularly in there.) - BUT you get 10 full sized pans for the price of less than 4 singles: the big palette costs 89€ while each blush alone would cost 23€. well, maybe i'll depot them into some nice UNII palettes someday...
as i couldn't decide anyways and needed some soul relieve from studying, i went big and got 2 of their 3 blush palettes. i opted for the "Cold" and the "Warm-Cold" versions since they both seemed to work for me (the "Warm" one looks extremely warm toned, so i passed)
closed, they look quite lame, but open them and you'll get eye candy deluxe. a cloud of stage-make-up scent included (totally reminds me of Kryolan products. i hope they are not the same, just re-packaged and up-priced.)
let's start with the Powder Blush Professional Kit in warm-cold.
a palette contains of 10 blushes, each 3.5g. the warm-cold palette houses matte blushes only and offers a selection of peach, tan, coral shades to even a scarlet red. i find most shades to be rather warm, no real mixture here or typical mix-colours of peachy pinks or pinky peaches. i wonder how warm the actual "warm" palette must be. although there seemed to be the one or other odd shade in this palette, eventually all of them worked out for me really fine.
by first impression, i favoured the shades Close Up and Soft Glow but after usage, i think Poesie suits me best as it contains some cool undertones that are more flattering on my yellow skin. at the moment, my personal favourite is Almond.
i swatched all of them unblended with the finger on bare dry skin. please tell me in the comments if you wish to see specific comparisons (you know my stash ;)) or blended-swatches.
each of the 20 Beauty Is Life blushes i own is heavily pigmented and especially the bold shades need an experienced hand for proper application. these aren't beginner blushes and can make you rather frustrated when you're just starting out.
they have an incredibly fine and creamy smooth texture, if blended in, they melt with my skin almost like a cream blush or cheek stain. i can imagine that the blushes may appear dusty if you scratch on their surface with a coarse goat hair brush, i always use squirrel brushes on mine. i highly rate the texture, not exceptional though, but definitely comparable to some Guerlain or NARS textures (of the matte shades, that is) and very similar to the more affordable Kryolan blushes i've tried.
really like this matte formula, with the right application it conceals uneven skin texture in your cheek area really well, gives a nice contour to your face and makes you appear glowy in an absolutely non-greasy way.
if buffed in nicely, the staying power is phenomenal. they don't fade, get blotchy, collect in your pores, change in colour or anything at all over a whole hot and humid day. just like freshly applied.
i think the consistency of the good quality throughout such a large selection is just amazing and speaks for itself.
Palace - Close Up - Tibet - Almond - Soft Glow
Poesie - Chelsea - Denver - Bolero - Opera
Palace - Close Up - Tibet - Almond - Soft Glow - Poesie - Chelsea - Denver - Bolero - Opera
Palace - Close Up - Tibet - Almond - Soft Glow - Poesie - Chelsea - Denver - Bolero - Opera
with flash: Palace - Close Up - Tibet - Almond - Soft Glow - Poesie - Chelsea - Denver - Bolero - Opera
a few words on my top tip for a soft and even application:
1. soft fluffy brush, rather a small size (for all my pictures i used the Chikuhodo Z4 Cheek/Highlight Brush or in case the blush was used as a contour colour, the Chikuhodo Z2 Highlight Brush)
&
2. make sure that the product is evenly distributed on your whole brush head. with concentrated blushes like these, it's a bold venture to smoosh your brush into the pan and then directly on the cheeks. rather load up the brush and then swirl it on a fine cosmetic tissue to evenly disperse the pigment onto each brush hair for a blotch-free flush (given you apply on powdered skin). excess blush is left on the tissue and only really little product should remain on the brush, invisible to the eye, so you can work more efficiently with your tool and blend in the product without the risk of over-application but with a longer lasting, soft and sheer result. you can gradually build up the colour as intensely as you wish. the back of your hand could be used as a swirling palette as well, but i prefer clean hands and i believe a dry tissue distributes the powder better.
now on to the actual blushes. each with close up of the pan and both before and after pictures.
Palace
Palace is a true coral. thankfully it applies quite true to color as most red and peachy shades turn out pink on me.
Close Up
a muted light pastel peach. great "nude" blush and one of the few rather fool-proof shades.
Tibet
Tibet's like a very red-toned bronzer. i postponed to try this intimidating colour, but in the end i really liked the warm and peachy look. not too brown at all.
Almond
Almond looks very similar to Tibet, but in fact it's a bit lighter and more yellow toned than the latter. it looks like a typical orange-toned bronzer in the pan, not very appealing and i suspected to turn into oompa-loompa. funnily enough it appears quite soft and nude and radiant and amazing once applied and the yellow in my skin brings out some hidden pink in this shade. my favourite of this palette!
Soft Glow
is a milky but bright peach with a slight pink tinge. beautiful shade, very universally flattering but also a bit predictable and it doesn't feel new and exciting like Almond, for example.
Poesie
a rosewood with bit of plum and brown in it. despite that my skin looks slightly too pink in these pics (thank you, red blazer!), this colour works really well with my overall colouring. it makes my skin look glowy and contoured and is prominent but subdued at the same time.
Chelsea
Chelsea looks quite scary to me, a deep terracotta brown and absolutely nothing i would go for. it doesn't make me look like the solarium-lady and works somehow, but not too well. i think it's a bit ruddy on me an emphasizes on the redness of my blemishes.
Denver
looks very similar to Palace but it is actually a smidgen lighter and contains a tad bit more white in it when directly compared. this is rather a watermelon red than a coral like Palace is. creates a very natural flush on me.
Bolero
odd shade in the palette. a cool toned greyish mauve-purple that is perfect for contouring though. it's also a good neutral purple used as eyeshadow.
Opera
is a scarlet red. quite scary when you look at it but i've had some similar colours before. with an ultra light hand very natural and flattering. somehow i want to try it as an eyeshadow, i think it would make an impressive red eyeliner when used wet.
Powder Blush Professional Kit in cold
just as its name implies, the "Cool" palette contains two hands full of rose and pink in many variations. if you like pink blush, this one will make you really happy. other than the "Warm-Cold" palette there are also shimmery blushes included and together with the odd corpse-like purple in the upper left corner, these 3 blushes are the ones i liked the least when i first opened and swatched this palette. turns out they are the most effective of these 10, though! why? read on!
Stage - Swing - Joy - Vendetta - Lido
Scarlet - Baroque - Sugar - Cassis - Geisha
Stage - Swing - Joy - Vendetta - Lido - Scarlet - Baroque - Sugar - Cassis - Geisha
Stage - Swing - Joy - Vendetta - Lido - Scarlet - Baroque - Sugar - Cassis - Geisha
with flash: Stage - Swing - Joy - Vendetta - Lido - Scarlet - Baroque - Sugar - Cassis - Geisha
Stage
the odd shade first: Stage is just like MAC's eyeshadow in Shale, just without the shimmer. it's a greyish plummy purple, with even more grey in it than in Bolero from the "Warm-Cold" palette. i wouldn't want to wear this as a blush, unless i'm dressing as a zombie for halloween. but it is a fantastic shade for contouring, i like it even better than Bolero for that purpose and it starts to supersede my other regular contour powders (Burberry Earthy Blush, NYX Taupe). looks very natural and authentic, my yellow undertone absorbs the purple in it and makes it look like a taupe shade. Stage is a good eyeshadow colour as well.
Swing
the close up looks a bit bright here but in real Swing is a classic rose colour that leans on the warm side.
Joy
Joy is a very clear, cool toned bright hot pink. the camera picks up lots of its blue undertone and makes it appear even louder on screen. applied sheerly, it looks a bit warmer on my skin, but still bright and noticeable. very girly, not my favourite at the moment.
Vendetta
is an intense reddish rose colour. such colours look quite natural and flattering on my skin. Vendetta is a fairly deep shade so i have to be careful, but it would be beautiful on darker olive toned skin.
Lido
uhh, i was cringing from this blush at the first sight. is there any less modern colour than a dark cool pink infused with silver and blue shimmer? i thought colours like this were a faux pas of the 90ies, ousted and forgotten today. but well, it was not too painful wearing it, the shimmer is less apparent than i feared and it's more pigmented than i thought (so no need to pack it on and have the shimmer emphasizing on enlarged pores etc.). and the colour was not too bad either!
what makes this shade so impressive though is its unmodern blue sheen, it enables this blush to be a perfect topping on other (matte) shades and casts a blueish veil onto the colours to create a cool toned effect. so you can customize your colours at the whim, tone down a shade that seems too warm for you and intensify the purple tinge of blushes that you want to be even "cooler" or spice it up with some shimmer and sheen. the effect is most interesting when layered on a warm, peachy blush (like Almond or Tibet from the other palette)
Scarlet
this is just the opposite of Lido. it's a candy pink with iridescent pink and gold shimmer, not comparable to NARS Orgasm though, as its base colour is more cool toned than Orgasm and the shimmer a bit more intense. it's sheerer than the other blushes and translates to my cheeks as a beautiful transparent pink with golden veil. worn as a layering-multi-tasker, the pink base melts into other blushes and the shimmer adds an up-warming gold nuance. with Lido and Scarlet as blush toppers, this palette offers a lot more variety than normal, the possibility to mix and layer the matte shades with each other aside.
Baroque
a deep purply rose colour, darker and more muted than in my close up. like the cool version of Vendetta. easy to sport and universally flattering.
Sugar
blue based medium pink. this is like the cool version of Swing. very basic colour that looks nice with many make ups and shouldn't be missing in any collection.
Cassis
your typical baby pink. rather light so one doesn't need to be as careful as with the other shades. adjusts itself with any make up look and makes one look soft and youthful.
Geisha
Geisha is a very light warm pink, like a piggy pink. it shows up nicely on pale-medium skin but could appear chalky on deep skin tones. light and fool-proof everyday-shade.
to sum it up, i'm really happy with the purchase of these blushes. they are not ground-breaking but i realise that it's fairly difficult to surprise and amaze an old blush junkie like me. although i'm not d'accord with the packaging and most definitely have a few similar blushes (especially the very basic shades) in my drawers already, i think these palettes are a great extension for my blush collection. i could already skip some limited edition blushes since i have these, for example the NARS summer one (as if it's something to be overly proud of, haha).
the intense pigmentation makes these not exactly goof-proof, but the smooth and creamy texture allows to sheer them out as desired. the staying power leaves no room for complaints.
no doubt they would be perfectly suitable for pros (i'd recommend to also take a look at the Kryolan range for smooth and pigmented matte blushes), the variety and value for money makes them attractive for the blush-addicted consumer as well.